Woman&#39;s confining garment



April 7, 1953 H. M DOLAN WOMAN'S CONFINING GARMENT Filed June 21, 1951 FIG. 2

mmvrm Harry M. Dolun ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 7,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WOMANS CONFINING GARMENT Harry M. Dolan, Manhasset, N. Y. Application June 21, 1951, Serial No. 232,803

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to a womans garment and more particularly to a womans woven, seamless, preformed, confining garment.

. It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a-woven, body encircling, confining garment which is preshaped during the weaving process and which has no seams therein. The absence of seams which cause unsightly bulges and marks which are apparent through the wearers outer garments, has always been a desirable feature of a womans confining garment, such as a girdle or corset. This is especially true of the light-weight confining garments that may be worn under sheer or semisheer formal dresses or ordinary summer dresses. The seams not only mar the smooth appearance of the wearenbut also have a tendency to mark and irritate the skin of the wearer. It can be seen, therefore, that a garment without seams is a very desirable one and it is for this reason that it isan object of the present invention to provide such a garment.

Heretofore, preformed, seamless, women's confining garments have been made of a knitted fabric. It is an object of the present invention to provide. such a garment constituted of a woven fabric. A woven fabric is much lighter than .the knitted fabric and supplies much more control. Moreover a woven fabric is thinner and smoother than a knitted fabric, both of which are properties desirable in a womans confining undergarment. Knitted fabrics have a tendency .to be rough and to irritate the wearers skin.

vention to provide such a woven garment in which the degree of control exercised by the garment .ongthe body of the wearer is properly regulated present invention;

throughout the garment. A garment embodying the present invention will provide a strong confining force in the region of the abdomen, hip,

and buttocks of the wearer but will not unnecessarily bind or overly confine the wearer in the region of her waist. The garment will, there- It is alsoan object of the present invention to provide a garment in which there are no slide fasteners or any other form of opening and closing means that must be actuated during the donning or the removal of the garment. This is not only an added convenience to thewearer in the donning and removal of the garment but also eliminates another source of unsightly bulges that are apt to show through the wearers outer garments.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a garment that is woven to a permanent shape having pre-determined dimensions. The garment is thus woven to fit the wearer and no sewing or shaping operation is necessary to cause the garment to assume the proper shape. This shape is permanent and the garment may be repeatedly laundered without any change in shape being caused thereby.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following description and drawing of one specific embodiment of the invention, in which;

Fig. l is a front view of a girdle embodying the Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the ranges and location of the various degrees of confining force exerted by the girdle; and

Fi 3 is a front view of a modification of the invention.

Unlike the conventional woven garment, the garment in Fig. 1 is constituted of a single section of tubularly woven fabric. The only inclusion of sewing is in the formation of the upper hem l0 and lower hem I i which are formed by stitching lines l2 and [3 respectively, and the securing of the conventional stocking supporters 'may be used. The warp or binding threads run vertically in the gar-ment and the weft or filling threads run horizontally in the garment.

In the preferred embodiment a rayon warp' thread and a, cotton covered rubber weft thread is employed. Thus, in the embodiment illustrated, the Warp is constituted of substantially non-elastic yarns while the weft is constituted of a highly elastic rubber yarn covered or uncovered thread. However, this is not absolutely necessary and any type of warp yarn may be employed, such as animal, vegetable, synthetic 3 fibres, however, the actual elasticity and confining effect of the garment will, of course, vary with the type of weft or filling elastic yarn employed.

The shaping of the garment and the confining force exerted by the garment is determined by the weaving process and is dependent on the number of warp and weft threads per unit area in various portions of the garment. Therefore, while the same thread is used throughout the garment, the number of warp and weft threads per unit area is not constant, nor is the initial tension set in the weft threads constant throughout.

In the zone at the top of the garment, ind i cated by the brackets A, there is a substantially constant number of warp and weft threads per unit area. In the zone indicated by the brackets B the number of warp threads per unit area gradl a ysde eae s nd th ncmhe .5 W? t e Ij i t a e "g a u ly in reas s thei n findicated by'the bracket C'isreached. Throughi j ene T t number o Tend W f @jtuream per unit area is substantially 'constaht.

er; u t t e n e acc mpl he eradylin t t s o .zon he e. "mer sf Emi are? ZQQQJC "th n :i rid less 'warpfthread's "per unit area "in zone C than in zone A.

e w rb fi h 'i hr afi s :e b' ssen n h targets zones. Since the jiorces jexerted by an s 1 b ma aflesd ectlyv hith see s it has been elongated, "a greater confining force i l b' z fi db i a bmfti nbf theearme t "whicli'the weft orfilling'threads have beenbpund into thewoven fabric with the 'gr'eateramountof exteiision'therein. 'm-z ne Aura filling or weft steeds u d rlie si n than th we or iii g til 162G301 the "zone j C, 'and tp r rjore will iiig threads 'in "zone B increases gradually-from the borderloi zonesgi and lite the' b der ofjiz ones Ba d .1 ca e q be seen he nea estwill beeXertedbyrcneQ-of he a mentwh i i vs d r d-l l a It has "10 en found that in the preferred form the relationship between the modu11is of elasjtii ye f b fi ie or e 'f t iih the Sev ra Zones-of the garment shouldbe abouttwo-tc one.

1121 other words; if a forceisfappliedtb-stretch' 2bne A, and will "stretch it a'unit'distance, thesaihe rareapplied to stretch zone C will stretch it nl half a u distance- "sitantially inelastic panel [5 i'nserted in the front of the-garment. The rest ofthe-g'arment is"co'ri-' stitutedofa'single sectionof woven fabric l'li hav- Number *asg'iheht'o'f a woven tube of varying diameter having 'relativel-yinelastic warp threads and relatively elastic weft threads, the incidence of the "latte'r progressively andgradually increasing with the diameter of the tube. 4 I

a. A r'ersime'g e men-m arment cementing *a. segment of a woven tube ervarying 'cliariieter, the segment mere asin-g "infdi'ameter from "top to bottomjand having elastic 'weiftthreadsthe iiict- "deuce or which progressively and 'g'radu'ally creases with said diameter.

3. "A prei ormedjconfi-ning garment'cornprising a segment or a seamles tcuuiarwoveirfatric the diameter of which increases iirogressively 'anii gradually from one-end to theoth'erthereef end havinglastic filling threads thehrimberbfmhih increases progressively and ="gradua1ly with said -diameter.

lfiz rgirdle coniprisirrg'asearnlesstubularwoven fabric havingrayonwarp'threacis and el stic'wrt threads, the diameter ofsaid gairnient and the number of'weftthreads progressively and gradually 'incr'easing-from oneend to the other'thereof.

5. A-girdle'comprising a seamlesstubuiar woven fabric having elastic weft threadsthe di'ameterfif said garment "and the number 0f weft threads progressively and gradually increasing zfroinprie end to the other thereof.

'6. A preformed con-fining 'garirieritcomprising a segment'of "a seamless tubular woven: fabric "aof varying diameter andhavingelasticweft-threads the incidence' of which "and the fabric modulus of which inc'areases progressively and g'radually "with said dia'rnr-zter.

HARRY-M.

v RE sRENcEs erm The renew ng references are of leases in the fil'eof this patent: Q P H UNITED-erm ne PATENTS Name a Date Numbers 

